The British and Japanese foreign and defense ministers said in a statement Wednesday (Feb. 3) that they are seriously concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas and oppose any attempts to unilaterally change the status quo. The post-Brexit Britain’s more active involvement in the Indo-Pacific is seen as a sign of its tilt toward the region.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and Defense Secretary Ben Wallace held “2+2 security talks” with Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi by video on Wednesday. “.
“The four ministers reiterated the importance of maintaining freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea and urged all parties to exercise self-restraint and avoid activities that could exacerbate tensions,” a statement issued after the meeting said.
China claims rights to almost all of the South China Sea and has established military outposts on artificial islands there. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims to parts of the South China Sea.
In the East China Sea, China claims sovereignty over a group of small, uninhabited islands controlled by Japan, known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan and the Diaoyu Islands in China. The issue has plagued relations between the two Asian powers for years.
The joint statement was issued after the four ministers held a video conference. Japan and Britain last held such a bilateral meeting in December 2017.
Relations between China and Britain have deteriorated over China’s implementation of the National Security Law in the former British colony of Hong Kong and its crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.
Japanese media see Britain’s concern over the situation in the East and South China Seas as a sign of its tilt toward the Indo-Pacific region. In another sign, this Monday, Britain formally applied to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a free trade agreement among 11 Pacific countries. Members of the agreement include Australia, Canada and Japan, but not China.
The U.S. was one of the initiators of the agreement’s predecessor, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), but in 2017, then-President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. was withdrawing from the TPP.Japan and other countries then led the effort to develop the TPP into the CPTPP.
Recent Comments